Pages

Monday, 20 July 2009

Walking with giants

There are some brands that immediately make you think of your nan or grandma, and not only the things they buy themselves, but the things they buy for you. Marks and Spencers means pajamas and cotton t shirts for her and knickers and school uniform-thick tights for me. Woolworths (RIP) meant birthday cards and extra mugs for her (because you can't have enough mugs!) and pick and mix for me. And Avon means bubble bath for her and the obligatory shower gel and flannel (much appreciated thanks nan!) in my Christmas stocking every year..

Isn't it funny how these stalwarts of the British retail industry have turned those stereotypes on their heads and started targeting a younger generation again?

.

Marks and Spencers have been at it for years: First with Per Una, then the limited collection, and collaborations with Patricia Fields and now Zandra Rhodes. Woolworths is now woolworths.co.uk: far too cool for an actual shop, they've moved online and lowered the prices (and i'm sure you'll be as relieved as I was to learn they still do pick and mix!) And Avon? Well although they still sell bubble bath and my favourite festive shower gel in unprecedented amounts, as you can see from the goodie bag that the Avon Press office sent me last week, they also do so much more:

My immediate suprise was some of the colour ranges. Look at the eye catching jewel-bright tone of this coral nail varnish! It goes on like a dream and in only one coat too; could there be a rival to my Barry M love? Maybe. It's certainly a far cry from the mauves and lavenders I was expecting. For the rest of the products I relied on my trusty testing panel to give you a thorough opinion..

The panel is otherwise called "my family" and made up of my mum (Lorraine) and sisters Amie and Lucy. It is worth noting that regardless of what they say, the eye shadow was by far the best product we all tried; it was easy to apply, looked great and lasted all day, despite feeling so lightweight you barely noticed it on your skin. Want to know why I know it is the best product? Because when I said they could each choose an item to keep, a small yet dignified cat fight broke out over the aforementioned eyeshadows! It's a sure-fire test!

Amie kindly models the eye quad!.

My favourite product was the face primer; so impressed was I by how soft and velvety it made my skin that I put some on my hands at work and had everyone touch them!

.

Amie (queen of cow-length pitch black eye lashes) was disapointed by the super shock mascara; the formula apparently is excellent, with the perfect consistency but the brush is too thick and bulky, so accuracy is lost (I can attest to this, having seen her in the mirror with mascara all over her nose!) Although at £4 the price point of that mascara is fairly unbeatable!

.

And Lucy? Well Lucy has such sensitive skin that she has to patch test anything that goes on her face on her hand for 24 hours. And i'm pleased to say that all the make up was great for her very sensitive ezema prone skin; Lucy loved the novelty of the Spectra Coloured lipstick, and I must admit, I thought it was a clever idea too: with seven shades in the one tube, you just click the setting to decide how intense you want your colour!

Worth noting is that if you do have very sensitive skin (like my poor guinea pig mum!) then the perfume probably isn't for you; one spritz on each wrist left them red and inflamed for the whole day and the next. It did smell good though!.

Overall I was very impressed: from gentle day make up to smokey intense night out eyes, Avon is certainly much much more than the bubble bath and pink lipstick outfit I was expecting. And for all of us living in the twenty-first century, you no longer have to order from a little book posted through your front door either: they have a website. But I do love the little touch of bringing the catalogue online as well; all of the products you can order convieniently on the website, but brought to you in a teeny well layed out magazine; genius!